Why do Thais take things so literally?

[Guest]

I dont normally use bad language with people, especially Thais. However, if I call a westerner a mother f*****, normally he would retort and that would be the end of it.

To my understanding no one would really think I was making any real reference to his mother.

 

I'm not going to write the Thai for this as it could get someone into deep trouble, but if I say this to a Thai why do they loose the plot?

[Khun_Kong]

 

Wouldn't that word be the name of one of our esteemed board members?

[Guest]

but if I say this to a Thai why do they loose the plot?

 

Possible reasons:

...you said it to someone you don't know.

...you said it with an angry voice (making them think you were serious).

...you said it as an unwarranted response (for example, someone gently brushes up against you and you call them a mo'fo').

 

 

The word is very similar to the English version. It can be used as an expression after you hit your thumb with a hammer, or you can say it to your close friends in loving fun. You can also mean it as a serious insult. I often refer to some of my close friends with such loving and endearing terms. Most of them don't mind. For the ones that do, they can't really ask me to stop cuz I am their senior. Those little yetmaes hafta sit there and take it. hahaha! (The only bad side is that girls usually don't like a bad mouth).

[Adams167]

Chico said:

I dont normally use bad language with people, especially Thais. However, if I call a westerner a mother f*****, normally he would retort and that would be the end of it.

To my understanding no one would really think I was making any real reference to his mother.

 

I'm not going to write the Thai for this as it could get someone into deep trouble, but if I say this to a Thai why do they loose the plot?

 

Surely it's obvious?

 

The phrase you use can - in English - be both an expletive AND a colloquial or slang expression, however the phrase directly translated into Thai is only recognised as an expletive.

 

All languages have slang phrases but they very rarely translate exactly into the same, slang, meaning in another language.

 

eg. almost every Farang knows what "Chak Wow" means in Thai, if you used a direct translation of that into English and said to an English friend "how often do you fly a kite?" you are asking a completely different question.

[Adams167]

Beach said:

but if I say this to a Thai why do they loose the plot?

 

Possible reasons:

...you said it to someone you don't know.

...you said it with an angry voice (making them think you were serious).

...you said it as an unwarranted response (for example, someone gently brushes up against you and you call them a mo'fo').

 

 

The word is very similar to the English version. It can be used as an expression after you hit your thumb with a hammer, or you can say it to your close friends in loving fun. You can also mean it as a serious insult. I often refer to some of my close friends with such loving and endearing terms. Most of them don't mind. For the ones that do, they can't really ask me to stop cuz I am their senior. Those little yetmaes hafta sit there and take it. hahaha! (The only bad side is that girls usually don't like a bad mouth).

 

I don't know how long you have been in Thailand but I would strongly suggest you don't use phrases like this even in fun, for a start it identifies you as someone who has learnt his Thai from bargirls and has no manners or respect.

 

Also don't imagine that the Thais who don't like it will always "sit there and take it" - it's not an amusing expression at all and if they decide to show you how offended they feel one day you will surely regret it.

[Guest]

I don't know how long you have been in Thailand but I would strongly suggest you don't use phrases like this even in fun, for a start it identifies you as someone who has learnt his Thai from bargirls and has no manners or respect.

 

 

Hi, Thank you kub. Sorry, but some of my friends and I are kinda paak maa. We don't ever talk like this in public, but when we are sitting around chatting among ourselves, we tend to use these kinds of phrases with each other na kub. We don't mind at all, cuz we are all close friends. I usually don't call any of my close friends 'yetmae.' If I did, however, they wouldn't be angry. One of my friends actually does favor this word and uses it from time to time, but we don't care. There is one guy in my club, who doesn't really like being called this, but we like to call him that from time to time just to tease him. My friends and I all like Thai hip-hop, and it is kinda trendy to speak like this

 

By the way, no one thinks I learned Thai from Bargirls. I'm not 'paak jat' in public places and with people I don't know na kub. Also, I don't speak any lao words like many bargirls do. I think even some of the most educated, respectable, and hi-so Thais will sometimes use bad words. No one thinks they learned from Bargirls. The difference is that they know when it is proper to use such language and when it is not.

[Guest]

Hi Beach,

 

I'm curious. How do you know how to speak so well? Lived there a long time?

 

BTW....thank you for your last post to me. Was most helpfull.

 

HT

[Guest]

Hi High Thaied,

 

I was under a lot of pressure to learn Thai when I was younger. Lots of stress and pressure. Lots n' lots!

 

BTW...glad I was helpful.

[Pescator]

Hi Adams167

 

I don't know how long you have been in Thailand but I would strongly suggest you don't use phrases like this even in fun, for a start it identifies you as someone who has learnt his Thai from bargirls and has no manners or respect

 

That would very much depend on your understanding of both the thai language and the thai code of conduct.

When I hang around my crowd these words fly around, nobody raises an eyebrow if I join the party, nor should they. We go way back.

In fact every time I meet one of the gang the usual greeting is something like: "Yet Mae!!!! tammai mung glap maa raew jang" or along those lines.

Nobody will assume that you have learnt these expressions out of a bar or whatever. I have plenty of opportunity to learn them from the guys.

Now, if you are with people outside of your "crowd" it is a totally different ball game and it would be wise to follow your advice.

 

Concerning the general concept of bar girls teaching "bad language". Mayby it is just me, but as far as I recall most have taken pride in teaching me polite terms.

But I don´t like to hang around the "rough/hardcore" bargirls so that could be part of the explanation. Dunno.

By the way, the general conception of issarn bgs teaching "lao slang"?? Never had that happening to me either and I would be interested in what exactly they "teach".

My guess would be that some punters hear words and expressions they are not familiar with and write it off as "lao slang".

No BG I ever encountered stroke up a conversation in lao with me nor used any lao words unless I initiated it first.

 

Cheers

Hua Nguu

 

 

Cheers

Hua Nguu

[Pescator]

eg. almost every Farang knows what "Chak Wow" means in Thai, if you used a direct translation of that into English and said to an English friend "how often do you fly a kite?" you are asking a completely different question.

 

Yes, but Chak Wow doesn´t translate to "flying a kite", rather "pulling at the kite". Which gives the expression a somewhat different meaning.

That is what they do when they have a competition where one combatant is flying the big kite - the Chulaa - and the rest is trying to get it down by "Chak Wow" pulling at the minor kites to get it down.

 

Cheers

Hua Nguu